


Pride

by towardsmorning



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Character of Color, Gen, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:02:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/369782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towardsmorning/pseuds/towardsmorning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>(Prompt: Jinora gets her tattoos.)</i>
</p><p>"Jinora has never wished to be worse at something before."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pride

**Author's Note:**

> This prompt was so adorable, I couldn't resist. I love this family so much already.

Jinora has never wished to be worse at something before.

Normally her abilities are a source of pride for her. It isn't exactly that airbending, or anything else, comes easily to her; it's more that she finds it easy to _work_. While Meelo gets distracted and Ikki gets bored, Jinora likes the satisfaction of picking at a problem until it comes fully undone in her hands. Whether it's reading or airbending or any of the many temporary interests she drifts in and out of, Jinora quietly loves that feeling of accomplishment, and relishes it all the more for knowing it's _hers_. Something that, in their family at least, defines her.

But now, as she looks down at the dark brown streaks on the floor where her shorn hair has fallen, Jinora wonders if perhaps she shouldn't have been a little less clever. Just for another year. Or two. Or ten.

Getting her tattoos is a great honour, she knows, but her head feels _strange_ with the front part shaven and a small part of her is thinking that it looks a bit, well, silly. She's never seen any pictures of female Air Nomads before and it had come as a shock to see herself. It suddenly strikes her that everyone is always going to be able to tell who she is on sight, for the rest of her life, because nobody but an airbender would have hair and tattoos like that and there's only them left. But even that shock pales in comparison to the fact that Jinora is trying very hard not to look at the small, innocuous bowl of blue ink in front of her with a needle laid across the top. _At least it's a pretty colour,_ she thinks, and it's true. Jinora has always admired the sky blue of her Dad's tattoos, and the way they follow the lines of the body. Perhaps it won't be so bad, Jinora tells herself, to have them flowing over her own body.

It's an _honour_ , she reminds herself, and clenches both hands in her lap tightly to keep them from fidgeting as she waits for him to arrive.

The door opens behind her with a gentle click and she hears him enter the room softly. She swallows hard and waits for him to settle down behind her. He lays a hand on her shoulder as he does so, and it helps her relax a fraction, enough that she finds the strength to turn around and muster up a wobbly smile for him.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather your mother..." he starts, but Jinora shakes her head immediately. She knows it would have been traditional to be tattooed by a woman when the Air Nomads were around, and Mom does know how to do it in theory, but Jinora would rather be given them by somebody who has been through it themselves. Dad hadn't been all that much older than her when he had become a master, and she can see the gentle sympathy and understanding in his eyes as he carefully doesn't ask if she's nervous.

"Well, if you're sure," he relents, and settles down more comfortably to prepare. Jinora takes a deep breath and stares straight ahead, trying to think of how wonderful they'll look when they're done instead of how much it's going to hurt getting them there.

"I'm so proud of you," her father adds, squeezing her shoulder one last time before beginning, and Jinora holds onto the warm glow that spreads through her as protection when the needle pricks her skin.


End file.
